Hong Kong Dollar
by Butterfly-winged Rat
Summary: [Yaoi] [Surprise Pairing] [AU] A fic about Bryan Kuznetsov. Bryan is sent on a business trip to hong kong which quickly goes awry.
1. Chapter One

An AU Bryan-centric fic about what happens when you send Russians to Hong Kong for business. Inspired by my own trip to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Dollar

By: The Butterfly-winged Rat

* * *

Chapter One: 

"Flight RU 262 to Hong Kong is now boarding. I repeat: Flight RU 262 to Hong Kong is now boarding." The Russian announcer spoke in rather crooked English. A lilac-haired Bryan Kuznetsov was not one to complain, but on occasions like this, he often wondered what he had ever done to earn such a punishment. He worked as a department head for a multi-million dollar electronics company and he had always taken his job seriously but this… this was just insane.

"_A Record Label! We are to become a record label!_" He could remember their CEO's exact facial expression as he announced their company's next exploits. It came as quite a shock to everyone, seeing as Ivanov International was never really associated to Media. They were mostly thought of as an old fashioned brand that produced things of commercial use, not those for the use of the everyday consumer.

His superior beamed at him "Bryan, _Bryan__, you are a smart person. It should not be too hard for you to see my reasons for doing this._" He chuckled. "It _is exactly because they see us as such that I want to change the way we are. To be unpredictable! To have something that would spice up the business even just a little._" That was one of his boss' more radical moves.

But an even more radical move would most likely have been to send him, the head of product development, out to meet their first possible recruitment. It was, in the least, a job for the head of human recourses or employment or whatever. Not his.

"_Don't give me that!_" Their CEO argued further. "_It would be a wonderful opportunity for you! Think about it! You get to travel; you get to meet new people… I couldn't imagine anyone more deserving of this then you! Besides, it's Hong Kong! And you know what that means: Fur, fur and lots of fur. It's perfect for you!_"

The light-haired youth let out a sigh. 'More deserving', eh? More like least deserving… It would be hell for him. Being sent off to Hong Kong to sign a Solo artist… how fun would that be?

He made himself comfortable in his seat… It was fairly decent. A window seat, close enough to see the in-flight movie while far enough to ignore it, not bad he had to admit. It might not necessarily be SO bad… Or so he liked to think.

Three hours later, he was starting to feel boredom eating away at him. The pack of playing cards he brought along with him only seemed entertaining before he won at solitaire four games in a row. He tried to read a book, but he finished it before it was even time to eat. And there was no way he was actually going to watch the movie. He wasn't a huge fan of overly decorated American action films that never failed to have a badly written kiss scene before the grand finale. There was only one thing left to do: surf.

Lucky for him, Ivanov International had been able to put him on a plane that allowed wireless broadband connections while in air. With thoughts of spamming his boss for such a frivolous hassle, he opened his email only to discover an unread message from an address he had never seen before. 'Greetings', it read. From the looks of it, Bryan doubted it contained a virus or something of the sort so he decided to open it.

It was a letter addressed to him from the current manager of the singer he was supposed to meet.

_Mr. Kuznetsov,_

_It is going to be a great pleasure to meet you. I am Mr. Kon's Manager, Kei. I'd like to thank you and Ivanov international for choosing us to be the first artist under your record label. We wish you all luck and hope you will be pleased with our performance. If it is not too much trouble, I wish to personally meet you as soon as you come to Hong Kong. Thank you for you time._

_Yours truly,_

_Kei_

As Bryan read the letter, he couldn't help but be amused. He knew he often acted too formal for the occasion, but this took the cake. Kei. He must've been quite a character. The Russian thought for sure that their meeting would be anything but boring. Then he wondered about Kon. The Chinese was supposed to be an amazing showman with a lot of talent. He could sing, play guitar, bass, drums and piano. Not bad, not bad at all…

He wondered if he should've written a reply to Kei, but quickly decided against it. He was bored, he was lazy… Kei could wait. Besides, he could always give the excuse that he hadn't been able to read the letter until he got off the plane. Yes, he was an asshole, but he could care less right about now.

When meal time came, the attendants were a little more than happy to attend to him. He didn't know why. It didn't by chance have anything to do with the Armani suit and Tudor watch, did it? No… these women couldn't POSSIBLY be THAT shallow.

The flight attendant bat her eyes at him in an attempting-to-be-seductive manner. Bryan could've puked. She was at LEAST five years older than him, maybe ten. It was unflattering and even made him wonder why women couldn't try any harder.

---

Walking past the same attendant as he got off the plane, he looked straight ahead, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. Though, he knew his cold distant attitude could be one of the reasons people thought so sourly about Russians, and also be the same reason they had such a negative outlook on them. He should be paid to do that.

Immigration was boring as hell, seeing as it took so long. Weirdo tourists snapping away with their cameras, taking pictures of anything and everything. Some of them even had the nerve to ask him to take a picture of them. He did, of course... just with the lens cap off.

The rest of the airport was slightly better. The people working at the immigration desk had nice uniforms, which the ones in Russia could learn from.

As he got his bags from the conveyer belt, he had to admire the architecture of the place. Everything seemed so tall and orderly. So, so disciplined! He could learn to love it here.

He made his way outside where he took a cab to his hotel.

The Island Shangri-la was about fifty floors tall and was built on top a mall, which was really convenient, and housed the world's largest mural. He learned that everything in Hong Kong was really tall because land was so expensive there. But none the less, everything was quite amazing.

Checking in and getting to his room was no hassle at all because Ivanov Intl. had already made the necessary arrangements, so Bryan figured all he had left to do was get the keys and take a rest.

Opening the door to the room, his eyes spotted the bed immediately, and he put his things down on the ground by the cabinet. The Russian took off his blazer and unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt before falling down against the bed. He closed his eyes, trying to beguile sleep into coming to him but was interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door opening. He sat up and got off the bed, quickly running toward the bathroom to see what it was that made the noise when he was met by a pair of golden eyes staring over-ecstatically at him.

"Hello there! I hope you don't mind me using your shower, mine totally didn't have any hot water-" As the intruder continued to babble, Bryan couldn't do anything but gawk and wonder JUST WHA THE HELL WAS THIS INSANE WEIRDO DOING IN HIS APPARTMENT! "-So anyway, thanks again for letting me use your shower. Whoops gotta run!" And before the lilac haired man had a chance to say or do anything, the 'insane weirdo' leaned forward and placed a kiss square on his lips.

"Toodles!" 'Insane weirdo' said before skipping out the room in only a bathrobe.

Bryan stood slack jawed in front of the door, waiting for his mind the register all of what had just happened. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" he said after about twenty seconds of silence.

* * *

Whee! Guess who everyone is! I'm purposely didn't name anyone else but Bryan. 

Tell me what you think of it. This hasn't been proofread yet, so if anyone else wants to do it, just say so.

'Til next time!


	2. Chapter Two

Hong Kong Dollar

By: The Butterfly-winged Rat

* * *

Chapter Two: 

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ding-dong.

It had been so painful -Bryan concluded- to have to bring yourself up out of bed after a long sleepless night. The events of past had left him shaken, to say the least. As he crawled out from underneath the blanket to answer the incessant ringing of that blasted phone, he fixed his hair a bit, seeing as the door had decided to begin bothering him as well.

"Hello?" He snarled bitterly into the phone.

"_Ah, Bryan, What time is it there? I hope I am not disrupting you!_" God, he knew that voice. It was just like his bloody boss to find just the right moment to pester him.

Sighing, he walked out to the door. "_No sir._ Just give me a moment, there's something I have to attend to." He placed the phone down on top of the mini bar so he could go check if it was just room service.

Instead of annoying hotel staff, it had been a tall –but not as tall as he was, he thankfully noted- brunette dressed in orange who he found waiting impatiently outside his room. What the- "Who are you, and what do you want?" the Russian barked loudly, not on his best mood.

The brunette just ignored his callous greeting and smiled, or rather, smirked at him with his arms crossed. "Mr. Kuznetsov, I presume?"

Bryan was just about to ask him how he knew who he was when his CEO started calling out to him from the other end of the phone. He was just about to pick it up and yell at his boss for being such an impatient slave-driver when the stranger walked in and beat him to it.

"Hello, Mr. Ivanov?" He greeted sweetly, something that didn't look right for someone who was as tall and masculine as he was. "Yes, this is Kei. I believe we have spoken before. Yes, yes. I've just met Mr. Kuznetsov… Yes. I see. Alright then. I'll inform him about it. Alright. Goodbye." As the phone made a click, Bryan was still trying g to process what had been said.

THAT was KEI! Kei: Kon's manager who had been too formal for words. _This_ was _him_?

As Bryan stood quietly mentally debating the possibilities of the scenario, Kei gave him an amused look and extended his hand out to shake, snapping the lilac-haired Russian out of his daze. "Hello there, Mr. Kuznetsov. I'm Kei, as you might've heard. Have you considered my invitation yet?"

---

"So is there a family name after that, or is it just Kei?" Bryan asked conversationally, taking a sip of his Latte, which was named the same thing as the quaint little café they were sitting at now.

Kei looked up from his spot across the table. "Excuse me?" he asked slowly, trying to keep all the tiramisu he had eaten in his mouth.

The Russian gave a low chuckle. "I said: do you have a last name?" he repeated, finding himself amused with the other man. "Come on. It's pretty obvious Kei isn't even your real name, let alone your full one."

Smiling back at Bryan, the brunette stirred the cake in its bowl as if thinking something over. "Well, I can't lie. You did manage to nail it right on the head. But don't expect me to go telling you what my real name is!" He said in a threatening manner, waving hisfork at Bryan. "As for my last name… I'll give you a clue. I'm sure as hell not Chinese! But I'm something pretty close to it. You might even say 'in more ways than one'."

Bryan really did laugh out that time. "You are something, Mr. Kei, I'll give you that!"

Kei laughed along with him for a few moments longer but as their laughter died down, Kei looked at him with a dead serious expression that seemed to just kill the mood. Strangely, Bryan still wanted to laugh. "I think we should be talking about business now. That IS why you're here, isn't it?" He reminded him.

"Do we have to?" Bryan mock-whined. "Such an inconvenience… And I haven't even finished my latte yet."

Pushing the lilac-haired man's sarcasm aside, Kei took a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it on the table for Bryan to see. "These are, ahem, Mr. Kon's demands-"

"-Demands?-"

"Well, they're more like what he wants for his pre-press conference meeting and on the actual event." He tried to explain as logically as he could. That was a hard task on its own because ofthe absurdly un-intellectual chicken scratches that dared pass themselves off as English sentences.

Giving up on actually understanding it, he opted to go for the easier option. "These demands would be?" he asked Kei while still eyeing the paper as if it could've come to life and attacked him at any minute.

Amused at the Russian's behavior, the star in question's manager began to elaborate what he understood of their client's requests. "Well for starters, he wants a room with a forty by sixty mirror, a bottle of distilled mountain water in every room he enters and that all the staff address him as sir." He explained, not failing to snerk at the last one.

"That all?" Bryan asked. He had actually been in the presence of quite a number of celebrities, mostly endorsers of their products, but a lot of them had asked for way more things than that. "What, no caviar? No red carpet rolled out in front of his dressing room?" he teased. Well, it was a good thing, in a way. They now knew he at least had the ATTITUDE of a real star.

"He said he thinks Salmon has a better taste." The brunette replied, not at all joking.

The mood was made heavy once more.

"You can really kill fun can't you?"

"I try."

---

With all the hustle and bustle of the conference areas of the Island Shangri-La, it wasn't that unbelievable that he would manager to lose- or rather, be separated from Kei. All the workers were busy making the place look presentable for their press release and announcement, so he didn't have a chance to speak to any of them about which place was where.

Thinking it would be best for him not to get in anyone's way; Bryan soon found the buffet table and made himself comfortable. He obliged himself with a bit of the spread, though it made him feel _somewhat_ bad that he didn't really do anything around there and didn't deserve to eat the cool mini-doughnuts set out for the poor underprivileged workers.

Karma had ways of making him pay, by the way, because he happened to choke on one of those cool mini doughnuts and almost drowned trying to wash it down. But even amidst his little disasters, something in the background caught his eye.

He immediately gave chase. It seemed to be moving away faster than he was running to it.

He bumped into two people and sent a few more colliding into the people around them. He didn't really pay attention to that at the moment because he felt that THIS was a bigger deal then those minor accidents could ever be.

The figure he chased was almost in sight. It was almost out the door and into the next room when he managed to grab hold of the figure's shoulder. "Wait one minute-!"

"Mr. Kuznetsov!" Kei chose that very moment to reemerge from what ever cave he had been hiding in for the duration of the time, and quite frankly, Bryan couldn't be more pissed, "Mr. Kuznetsov, I'm glad to see you've met our star!"

What?

"Hey! You have water!" the Russian's attention was called back to the bottle of water in his hand from the doughnut scenario, but even that was rapidly removed from his grasp. "Thanks! I needed that. You will not believe how hard it is to get a bottle of fresh Mountain water in here!"

Kei smiled as he looked at both of them. "I do believe you've met, but just for formalities, Mr. Kuznetsov, this is our client and the next biggest star the world has ever seen, Rei Kon."

No way in hell… This couldn't be happening.

* * *

How obvious is it that this was done with half a brain? But Horah for me, it's been proofread. 


	3. Chapter Three

Hong Kong Dollar

By: Butterfly-winged Rat

* * *

Chapter Three:

All the words in the world couldn't make Bryan feel any better at this point. He wanted to scream 'What the hell!' or something like 'You must be shittin' me!' but no words seemed to escape his mouth.

He began stuttering and even thought he might've died from a heart attack, but alas, his unease didn't go unnoticed.

"Are you... alright, Mr. Kuznetsov?" Kei wondered, sounding genuinely concerned for him.

'No! Do I fucking look 'alright' to you!' "He-h-he's..." was all that managed to escape.

Kei looked from Bryan to Rei, not being able to make a connection.

Finally, Bryan had gathered enough of his voice to actually SAY something. "He- He was the insane weirdo who was in my room last night!"

And as if everything that just occurred had dawned on to Rei, the Chinese man began laughing ecstatically. He clenched his stomach in pain, seeing as he was unable to hold back the boisterous fits of laughter he was emitting. "Oh my god! No wonder you looked so shocked!"

All the embarrassment and frustration the Russian had been experiencing up to that point had suddenly been replaced by pure, unfiltered rage." You- You! You fucking Bastard! What do you think you did! Do you think something like THAT is something you can throw around lightly!" There were so much more profanities Bryan wanted to yell at his, but he knew that that was neither the time nor place to do something that irrational.

Kei was lost amidst their exchange of words and kept silent. He didn't bother understanding…

The singer's hilarity soon disappeared, but this time, an expression of fiendishness was what graced his features. "Oh, and what would that be Mr. Kuznetsov?" He moved closer and closer towards Bryan. In fact, it was a little too close for comfort, but as much as he backed up, Rei advanced forward with ferocity in his eyes. "You wouldn't by chance be affected by a little kiss, would you?" And just like the previous night, the Russian had been caught off guard the moment the golden-eyed boy leaned forward and kissed him

Unlike the previous kiss which had been chaste and simple; this one was quickly turned rough when Rei has forced his tongue's entry in to Bryan's mouth and pulled him down to about his level by the tie.

Being in complete and utter disbelief made things go against the lilac haired man's liking, and it didn't look like he had the ability to stop this from happening. The prospect of biting off the Chinese's wasn't looking so bright either. He could just hear his CEO's voice.

'You got his tongue cut off! You do realize he's a singer and he needs that so he can SING!'

He knew he couldn't take much more of this. If this lasted any longer, he might've even begun to enjoy himself, god forbid. But just before he reached his limit –and run out of oxygen- he was saved.

"Rei! That's enough!" Kei immediately yelled pulling the other brunette off of Bryan. Kei, who had been right there the whole time, had the most flustered look on his face Bryan had ever seen. Poor man. Who could ever have expected that?

That impertinent little bag of shit –i.e. Rei- had just returned a sheepish smile at the boy's orders and distanced himself from them. "This isn't over yet!" he yelled back before running off. Whether that message had been addressed to Bryan or Kei, they'd never know.

In the middle of all the confusion, there was a baffled notion as to how all of that happened in that miniscule amount of time. Knowing just how awkward that whole situation must've looked from someone else's eyes, Bryan just let his gaze drop to the floor. Maybe if he didn't move, they'd just ignore him.

"I'm sorry about him." Kei suddenly muttered. "I already had the feeling he was going to pull something this drastic. That's why I sent you the email-" –Bryan cursed himself inwardly for that one- "but when I saw that you were still in one piece by the morning, I though he might not have gone through with it and left you alone. He likes to make an impression, you see, and a lot of times, it isn't a good one."

"It's not your fault." Bryan found himself saying before he had a chance to think about it. "He's a star, right? It's perfectly natural for eccentrics like them… Besides, it's no big deal." That right there was one big fat hairy lie.

The brunette tried to force a smile, but its lack of sincerity was a little too obvious. "Yeah… no big deal, right?"

The Russian nodded, faking his unaffectedness as well. "Right. It'll all be history by tomorrow. It happens all the time, right?" he tried to laugh.

The other man laughed with him. "Right… All the time."

Neither of them could see the blatant unease and hesitation over their own self-denial.

---

"-to thank you. And I want to especially thank Ivanov International for giving me thins chance to share my talents with the world."

God, he really did sound like a beauty pageant contestant. Bryan watched the Press conference from the sidelines. He wasn't fond of crowds, nor was he fond of flashing lights going off all around him or people who would get in your face just to talk to you.

In a way, he always thought those celebrities on TV were just whoring themselves to the media.

He looked at Kon. Just recalling the incident earlier sent chills down his spine. Oh what he wouldn't give to teach that little punk a lesson. Unluckily for him, he was very serious about his job and knew how to set his priorities straight. Why couldn't he stop being straight laced for once?

By now, his eyes must've been boring holes into the singers head. He kept his gaze until even Rei noticed it. Glancing in Bryan's direction, Rei grinned smugly before winking pseudo-seductively at him. Bryan wanted to gag.

Running into the next room which was used as a sort of back stage, Bryan loitered around by the benches left out hoping to collect his thoughts. This whole incident was seriously messing him up. He needed to get his act together and if he didn't, there was around a 75 chance he'd go insane.

The weight on the bench shifted. "Hey." Kei looked at him almost remorsefully. If anyone could understand what Bryan was going through, it would be Kei, right? The brunette looked blankly at Bryan. "What'cha doin'?"

That made Bryan laugh.

It wasn't what he said. It was more of how he said it. The Russian couldn't help but Smile at him as he answered. "I'm thinking, I guess. You?" he shot back in an equally playful manner.

Kei seemed to be glad that Bryan was feeling livelier. "Talking to you. Nothing much to do around here." Kei explained. "But I could really use a light right about now." He mused aloud.

"Really now…" Bryan said quirking a brow. "You smoke?"

"Believe it." Kei chuckled. "And from the looks of it, you do too, don't you?

"Religiously." The Russian laughed in response. This was enjoyable… Almost like a real conversation, unforced and completely spontaneous. Maybe, with a friend like Kei around, he'd be able to get though this whole ordeal without shooting himself in the head. It's funny how the best people always came with the worst. "Hey Kei…"

The other boy looked up. "Yeah?"

"… Thanks."

---

By the end of the press conference, the blonde photographer checked to see how his shots had turned out. The pictures had to reach the editors before the next day, after all.

On his way out, he ran into someone he hadn't been expecting. "Michael! What are you doing here?"

The other man looked just as surprised as he did. "Max! How've you been?"

The blonde, Max, exchanged greetings with his old colleague, smiling and laughing merrily. "Been great. You're here for Ivanov's new piece as well aren't you?" Well, what other reason would a columnist for one of the biggest entertainment magazines be doing here at this time if not to see a rising star.

Michael looked around warily before whispering something to the blonde. "This is only between you and me, but I'm here on an assignment to get the scoop on an even bigger debut!"

* * *

Gasp What's going to happen next? But whatever it is: I will not declare the story's official pairing until the end! Nevah!

Not sure I should be happy with this one. Nonymous-san, my proofreader told me she found the turn of events a little to quickly paced, but there's nothing I can do about that at the moment. Until next time!


End file.
